Instagram/@beyonce
Gucci and Chime for Change have announced a new partnership with Beyoncé and UNICEF USA to bring clean water to the children of Burundi today, on World Water Day.
Beyoncé launched the BeyGood4Burundi initiative with UNICEF through her BeyGOOD philanthropic arm in 2017 to help support programs improving water and sanitation in areas of landlocked East Africa.
35 wells have been currently been built in Burundi, which is known as the “heart of Africa”, and Gucci’s $1 million pledge to the project will facilitate the construction of 80 additional safe water sources. UNICEF predicts that this will provide clean water to more than 120,000 women and their families, reducing chronic malnutrition and enabling girls to go to school rather than walking for hours to collect water. Globally, UNICEF predicts that girls and women spend around 200 million hours every day gathering water.
Courtesy of BeyGood4Burundi
“Gucci and Chime for Change are proud to stand with Beyoncé and UNICEF to help change the lives of hundreds of thousands of girls and women in Burundi,” said Marco Bizzarri, president and CEO of Gucci, in a statement. “Through our commitment to BeyGood4Burundi, we continue the mission of Chime for Change to provide education, health, and justice to girls and women globally.”
After launching its partnership with UNICEF in 2005, Gucci has raised $21 million and reached more than 7.5 million children in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia through UNICEF projects. Since founding Chime for Change, its global campaign for gender equality, in 2013, Gucci has furthered its work with the global charity through Beyoncé’s BeyGood4Burundi program and fellow co-founder Salma Hayek Pinault’s support of Syrian refugees in 2015, and those affected by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico in 2017.
The news comes shortly after the Italian mega-brand donated $500,000 to March For Our Lives, the organisation planning a demonstration in aid of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida. While large companies rarely take a stance on political issues, preferring to remain neutral, Gucci joined the anti-gun movement, and raised awareness of the cause while doing so.
Originally published on Vogue.co.uk
Beyoncé Channels a Nubian Warrior Princess at the 2018 Wearable Art Gala
